GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.—The federal government is getting support and objections about the possibility of giving national park status to Colorado National Monument, a potential shift that’s part of a bigger debate about public involvement in the process.

Colorado park supporter Terri Chappell said Wednesday the Colorado scenic highway west of Grand Junction could be a model for new park standards, while former Republican U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis said the legislative process that would come with the designation is questionable.

Park status generally brings more services than monument status. Proponents say it would attract more visitors, which would boost the regional economy. Park status also could give the National Park Service more power over issues outside the boundaries of the park, such as industrial development in the Grand Valley.

Opponents say higher air-quality standards and local oversight are major issues that need to be resolved.

U.S. Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Colo., have said they will decide this summer whether to offer a bill to lay out the process.

The 32-square-mile monument is just west of Grand Junction, encompasses towering rock formations carved by erosion and is a major tourist destination.

Chappell, a member of Grand Valley Region Citizens for a National Park, says the Antiquities Act of 1906 hasn’t been changed and President Barack Obama could expand its boundaries at will.

According to the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel ( http://tinyurl.com/lfu2g48), President Bill Clinton in 1996 used the Antiquities Act to unilaterally establish the 1.8 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, to the chagrin of officials in Utah who complained they weren’t consulted.

Clinton also moved to expand Colorado National Monument west to the Utah border under the Antiquities Act, but signed legislation in 2000 establishing what is now McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area along the monument’s western edge.

Chappell said the best way to prevent Obama from acting on his own to expand the monument is to make it a national park so that Congress would have to approve any changes.

Chappell said Grand Valley residents can work with efforts to attain park status, “or you can trust President Obama to not take action in his last days,” unlike what President Clinton did with the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

McInnis said he doesn’t oppose park status for the monument, but warned that pitfalls await in Congress.

Several organizations, including the West Slope Colorado Oil and Gas Association and Grand Junction Area Chamber of Commerce, have conditionally endorsed park status. Conditions include no higher air-quality standards and that a local oversight committee could reverse National Park Service decisions.